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He Died For Us – You Cannot Close His Parishes

For people who attend daily Mass, it is quite clear that they would never accept the termination of their parish.

Mass has a special priority for them, because it permits them to receive the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God every day. It is the same Body and Blood that Jesus shared with his disciples the night before the crucifixion.

Our priests emphasize that Jesus loves his brothers and sisters. This is why he came to Earth to live our life and experience the horrifying suffering and death that led to our redemption.

One of the powerful events expressing Jesus’ love for his brothers and sisters happened just before Jesus died on the cross for our sins.

The good thief acknowledged that he was a sinner and requested Jesus’ forgiveness. Who could ever forget that Jesus said to him: “This day thou shall be with me in paradise!”

Two days later, the Son of God revealed His Resurrection to Mary Magdalen before anyone else. Our incredible Savior, the son of God, only wants us to repent to save us.

Thus the Body and Blood that we can receive at Holy Communion at daily Masses are extraordinary gifts that change our lives to be more acceptable to God.

Holy Communion, Confession, and Baptism are normally available only at Church. How could anybody want to close a parish to eliminate the availability of these God-given wonders?

Take away a church and you destroy access to the Sacramental life of already faithful Catholics! This is absolutely wrong! And if the parish includes a school, it is a double disaster. There is nothing more important than evangelizing our children.

Each parish in the Archdiocese of St. Louis has grown and developed over years, decades, or even centuries to provide all the Sacraments that Christ himself established. Terminating Christ’s Sacraments by terminating churches is a disaster.

Suppose that there are 30 people going to daily mass in each parish. This would be more than 10,000 Masses and receptions of the Sacraments per year. And on Sundays, supposed there are 200 people going to Mass each Sunday. This would be another 10,000 Masses and receptions of the Sacrament per year. Thus closing of a single parish

1 would result in more than 20,000 Masses and receptions of the Sacraments that would not be available to faithful Catholics each year. This would be an utter catastrophe.

What are the benefits of All Things New that would offset this catastrophic loss of access to the Sacraments that Jesus Christ established for us?

It is very probable that the financial support of the Archdiocese is originating in the people who go to Mass more frequently than others. This would include a lot of Catholics who go to daily Mass. This is another reason not to destroy parishes.

The All Things New webpage (allthingsnew.archstl.org) speaks multiple times about sustainability. This suggests that the Archdiocese may be having financial problems. However, there is no hard data of numbers and facts that would be useful.

There are approximately 194 parishes in the St. Louis Archdiocese. We were able to find real estate appraisal data for 55 of these parishes in St. Louis County in the St. Louis County records. The total appraised value for the real estate of just these 55 parishes was approximately $250,000,000 (two hundred and fifty million dollars). This does not include any parishes in St. Charles County, Lincoln County, Warren County, Franklin County, Jefferson County, Washington County, St. Francois County, St. Genevieve County, Perry County, or St. Louis City.

Also, it seems that the real estate of many of these parishes is not actually owned by the Archdiocese. According to St. Louis County records, the real estate is owned by an entity called St. Louis County Catholic Church Real Estate Corporation, which is not the same entity as the Archdiocese. This raises the question, if parishes are closed and the real estate is sold, who gets the money?

To look into this, we are asking the St. Louis Archdiocese to provide an audit of the complete fiscal operation of the Archdiocese, available to the whole community, to explain why this is being done.

If the Archdiocese is in financial difficulty, the transparency provided by an audit will help rectify the situation as well as protect the Archdiocese in the future. There are many dedicated Catholics with extensive financial expertise that might be able to help given an audit. Perhaps they can provide a better solution than shutting down and selling off parishes.

2 Appendix

Parish Appraised Values (from St. Louis County Records)

All Saints University City 2,700,000
Annunciation Webster 3,700,000
Annunziata Ladue 5,700,000
Ascension Chesterfield 7,500,000
Assumption Mattese 9,400,000
Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Ferguson 5,200,000
Christ Prince of Peace 7,300,000
Christ the King University City 1,400,000
Cure of Ars Shrewsbury 2,500,000
Holy Name of Jesus Bissell Hills 3,700,000
Holy Redeemer Webster Groves 6,900,000
Holy Spirit Maryland Heights 4,900,000
Immacolata Richmond Heights 9,400,000
Immaculate Conception Maplewood 2,700,000
Incarnate Word Chesterfield 13,600,000
Little Flower Richmond Heights 5,300,000
Mary Mother of the Church Mattese 2,400,000
Most Sacred Heart Eureka 5,600,000
Our Lady of Lourdes University City 1,700,000
Our Lady of the Pillar Creve Coeur 7,500,000
Our Lady of the Presentation Overland 5,600,000
Queen of All Saints Oakville 1,900,000
Sacred Heart Florissant 3,100,000
Sacred Heart Valley Park 800,000
Seven Holy Founders Afton 8,100,000
St. Alban Roe Wildwood 9,600,000
St. Angela Merici Florissant 5,000,000
St. Ann Normandy 3,800,000
St. Bernadette Lemay 5,000,000
St. Catherine Labore Sappington 9,100,000
St. Clare of Assisi Ellisville 8,500,000
St. Clement Des Peres 7,800,000
St. Elizabeth of Hungary Crestwood 3,400,000
St. Ferdinand Florissant 4,000,000
St. Francis of Assisi Oakville 8,600,000
St. Gerard Majella Kirkwood 9,500,000
St. John Bosco Creve Coeur 4,300,000
St. John Paul II Afton 4,700,000
St. Joseph Clayton 10,000,000
St. Justin Martyr Sunset Hills 3,900,000
St. Luke Richmond Heights 3,700,000
St. Margaret Mary Alacopque Mehlville 7,900,000
St. Mark Lemay 4,800,000
St. Martin de Porres Hazelwood 3,600,000
St. Mary Magdalen Brentwood 4,800,000
St. Matthias Lemay 3,100,000
St. Michael Shrewsbury 2,800,000
St. Monica Creve Coeur 10,300,000
St. Paul Fenton 5,700,000
St. Peter Kirkwood 2,900,000
St. Richard Creve Coeur 2,700,000
St. Peter Kirkwood 2,900,000
St. Peter Kirkwood 2,900,000
St. Rita Vinita Park 1,100,000
St. Rose Philippine Duchesne Florissant 4,300,000
St. Sabina Florissant 3,900,000
St. Simon the Apostle Green Park 7,500,000
   
Total of 55 St. Louis County Parishes $249,900,000

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2 replies on “He Died For Us – You Cannot Close His Parishes”

Thank you, whoever you are, for this impressive (albeit sad!) compilation of facts and examination of same. I look very much forward to continued articles!

I looked up the St. Louis County Catholic Church Real Estate Corporation. It’s mailing address is 20 Archbishop May Dr, St Louis, MO 63119-5738, same as the Archdiocese. I also see there is a St. Charles County version of the corporation. Who are they and what do they do for Special school for the blind, handicapped, etc. & Hospital and Publishing activities?

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